Weight Management Success - POSTED ON: Sep 24, 2013
At the bottom of this post is the audio of an excellent lecture regarding weight management success.
I found it interesting, understandable, and practical. It is rare to find any medical professional with this kind of knowledge, expertise, understanding, and ability to communicate about obesity and weight management.
This is the Audio of a Professional Lecture,
"The 5A's of Obesity Management",
given at a Medical Conference for Licensed Practical Nurses.
The Lecture is by Dr. Ayra Sharma, M.D., PhD, FRCPC who is an Obesity Specialist and a Professor of Medicine & Chair in Obesity Research and Management at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada. He is also Scientific Director of the Canadian Obesity Network.
More insight from Dr. Sharma can be found at Dr. Sharma's Obesity Notes - www. drsharma.ca
Health as an Obligation - POSTED ON: Sep 18, 2013
Fitness is not a measure of worth. People who choose exercise activities, meaning various types of movement or fitness, as a hobby are no more praiseworthy than people who choose anything else as a hobby. Fitness by any definition is not an obligation.
There is also no personal obligation to have a thin, or a “normal-weight", body. Seeking weight-loss is not the same thing as living with healthy habits, and thin or "not fat" isn’t the same thing as "Healthy". There are healthy and unhealthy people at every size, so reaching a certain body size is neither a guarantee of health, nor a sure preventative or cure for disease. Body Size and Health are two different things and people can, and often do, pursue one without the other. In fact, seeking "Health" is not a moral, social, or personal obligation. People can choose to prioritize and pursue health at whatever level they want. Their choice to seek health by “engaging in a healthy lifestyle” doesn’t guarantee them personal health. It also doesn’t make them better than people who don’t choose to prioritize or pursue health. There are also different kinds of health. and all of them aren't available to everyone. For example: Mental health and Physical health are two different things, and these two types of health don’t necessarily go together. What does "healthy" even mean?
Healthy is simply the opposite of diseased or dead. Human beings are born, they live, and they die. The human body is designed to wear out. Even the most "healthy" bodies become "unhealthy" as they get old, and eventually every body ceases its function. Sudden or lingering, death comes to everyone, and except for death-by-accident, people of all ages become sick and then die. While the term "healthy", refers to the general condition of a person's mind and body, usually meaning to be free from illness, injury or pain, that term is now loosely used to refer to various substances, activities, and ideas that allegedly promote that general condition. However, despite all claims to the contrary, most things ... including personal values ... that are sold to us by the diet (and fitness) industry are the exact opposite of “healthy”.
Dressing to Please the Fat Bigots - POSTED ON: Sep 11, 2013
A Bigot is someone who, as a result of their own prejudices, thinks of other people with contempt, or intolerance on the basis of that other person's characteristics. Bigotry is the state of mind of a Bigot, and thoughts often tend to become actions.
Those who wish to be, or appear to be, "politically correct" in today's society, know they must work to filter out their prejudices against various characteristics such as ethnicity, gender, disability, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, etc.
However, even the most "liberal" people commonly practice Bigotry when it comes to the physical characteristics of people who have Fat bodies. Our current society still accepts, allows, and encourages such thinking and behaviors.
Here, the term "Fat Bigot" is used to define someone who is prejudiced against the physical characteristics of people who have fat bodies, not someone who HAS a fat body.
When Fat Bodies Just Look Wrong by Ragen Chastain. There is a post over on This is Thin Privilege written by a girl who was told that she couldn’t wear the same shorts as a thinner student because she didn’t “present” the same way as the other student. This highlights a particular kind of fat bigotry wherein fat bodies are judged to look “wrong” doing the same thing that thin bodies do, just because they are fat.
Wrong can take a lot of meanings in this context, one of the first is the idea that they look obscene (remember the Lane Bryant ad that showed about 25% of the skin of a Victoria’s secret ad but was controversial because it was judged look obscene - obscene here meaning “omg big boobs!”?) Or, as in the example from above, fat bodies are seen as un-presentable, or needing to be more covered/hidden than other bodies. And how many times have we heard the “fat girl” rules of fashion – black clothes absorb light and hide our shape (aka “slimming”), choose clothes based on their ability to make you look as much like the thin ideal as possible (aka “Flattering“) and that anything else is an affront to everyone who sees us and a moral failing on our part. This type of situation is often about a bigot asking to be accommodated by a fat person. The assumption being that if someone doesn’t like fat bodies, doesn’t like looking at fat bodies, doesn’t think that fat bodies should do certain things or dress in certain ways, then the people with those fat bodies have a responsibility – nay, an obligation – to “fix” the situation by doing what the fat hater wants us to do. As if the solution might not be for them to get the hell over their bigotry, or at least practice the ancient art ...
Is it the Diet, or the Person, Who Fails? - POSTED ON: Aug 15, 2013
By now, anyone who spends any time with me here at DietHobby, probably knows a great deal about my personal dieting, weight-loss and maintenance history, and is familiar with my 8 year + ongoing struggle to maintain my body at a normal size after years of yo-yo 100+ lb losses and dealing with the issues of morbid obesity. If not, you can see my recent STATUS UPDATE, which includes a couple of very relevant links.
My weight is now in the “normal” range, and it takes constant vigilance for me to keep it there. What most “average” people have difficulty grasping is that my struggle is not caused by trying to keep my weight “too low”. Ten years ago when I weighed in the 190s, I struggled to stay under 200 lbs. Twenty years ago, before my RNY gastric bypass at 271 lbs, my highest weight ever, I was engaged in an ongoing struggle to keep from gaining even more weight. Despite all of my nutritional knowledge and dieting experience, I know without a doubt that the result of “listening to my body” and eating what my body tells me to eat will return me to my highest weight. There are many articles here in the DietHobby ARCHIVES that deal with the specifics of this issue in detail. A great deal of current research has indicated that overweight or obese people aren’t necessarily less “healthy” than normal weight people. This has also been my own lifetime observation and I am in agreement with that line of thought. So WHY, here in my late 60s, do I continue to engage in this struggle? Why not relax and just “eat healthy” and let my body get as fat as it wants to get? I’m in excellent health for my age, come from “healthy” genetic stock, and take no prescription drugs, great blood pressure, and no medical conditions, except for my tendency toward obesity.. Even though I’m in excellent health for my age, I’m elderly, so it is unlikely that I have more than 10 to 20 lifetime years left. Recently I posted some videos of an ongoing BBC series called “The Men Who Made Us Thin”.
It reminded me of my personal history in the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s and forward, and I thought about the fact that almost all of the people who helped me create my personal anti-fat bias are now dead. Their opinions, which were once crucial to me, are now meaningless. All of my present family and friends love and accept me at any size, fat or thin. I have no wish to share here all of the details of my innermost psyche about this issue, but I bring it up because as part of my Dieting Hobby, I’ve been watching quite a few people who are adopting the principles of “Health at Every Size”, and are working to Accept whatever size …. no matter how obese…. their body wishes them to be. I find them interesting and admirable. Here at normal weight, I have no intention of adopting this philosophy for myself and allow my body to return to morbid obesity, but if I were still at my top weight I think I might consider it. Previously I shared an article and dancing video of a wom...
The Men Who Made Us Thin (BBC series - All Episodes 1, 2, 3 & 4) - POSTED ON: Aug 14, 2013
Update: The missing videos were removed from YouTube in 2014 due to a Copyright violation.
Here's Episode ONE of BBC series: "The Men Who Made Us Thin" which was televised in the UK in Summer of 2013.
Episode THREE of BBC series: "The Men Who Made Us Thin" which was televised in the UK in Summer 2013.
Episode FOUR of BBC series: "The Men Who Made Us Thin" which was televised in the UK in Summer 2013.
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